While Erhan had already made it home, chaos erupted inside the police station.
"—WHAT DO YOU MEAN A KID TOOK THEM?!"
Sheriff Marco was yelling from behind his desk, a cigarette hanging from his mouth. His anger triggered a coughing fit. His hand trembled as he reached into his pocket, pulled out a pill bottle, took two pills, and swallowed them with water. Once he calmed down, he looked at the two officers standing in front of him.
"Trusting you was… cough… a mistake."
"Sir, he dropped a tape while escaping. We haven't watched it yet."
The officer placed the tape on the desk and looked at Sheriff Marco. With a single gesture toward the door, Marco dismissed them. Both officers left the room. Marco calmly picked up the tape, stood up, and stared out the glass window across from his desk for a moment.
He walked out of his office and entered the security room with steady steps. Inside, one man was sipping coffee while monitoring the cameras.
"Good morning, Hank."
The guard turned around, saw Sheriff Marco, and stood up.
"Good morning, sir. May I ask why you're here?"
"I need a VCR to play a tape. And a monitor. Think you can help me carry them to my office?"
Sheriff Marco smiled faintly.
"Sure… I think it should be here somewhere… yes, here it is."
Marco picked up the VCR while the guard took the monitor. They returned to the office and set everything up on the desk. The guard left. Marco sat down, inserted the tape, and pressed "PLAY."
Static filled the screen. Marco clasped his hands together and watched closely.
The recording was from today, October 12. He fast-forwarded until Ethan appeared, then began watching carefully. The boy was coming from the direction of the camera room door. His face was covered in blood, making it impossible to identify him. Only one detail stood out clearly, a single brown eye.
But Marco noticed something else.
Beneath the torn fabric on the left side of the boy's back, there was something like a claw mark.
Marco wrote this down in his notebook. He zoomed in on the blood-covered face and stared with sharp, determined eyes.
"Who are you, kid… and why did you take those tapes?"
(BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! CLICK!)
Ethan woke up suddenly and sat up in bed. He looked at himself in the mirror. His face was covered in wounds, and his reflection showed glowing red eyes. Slowly, the injuries began to heal.
"If you leave the house like this, it will look suspicious."
"Why did you tell me earlier, when I was hiding from the police at the door, to do 'what I'm best at'? What did that mean?"
"What do you think?"
"Did you think I looked… pitiful?"
The Gluttony King smiled in the mirror.
"Your willingness to do anything to succeed… that hunger."
Ethan's smaller wounds faded away. Just then, his stepfather Walter entered the room.
"So you're awake. Get ready, the bus will be here soon."
Walter left. Ethan looked at the mirror again. The red eyes were gone. Without saying a word, he washed his face, got dressed, and went downstairs.
"Good morning…"
As Ethan ate breakfast, he watched the news.
"Two sisters who were playing in their backyard last night in Garfield Heights have gone missing. The search is ongoing."
The moment Ethan heard this, he felt it as a call of fate. He wanted to save them.
But there was a problem.
He needed to know where they might have gone. The power of Gluttony sharpened his hearing, but his sense of smell was still weak. He needed at least a general direction.
As soon as he finished eating, Ethan grabbed his bag and left the house to wait for the school bus, drawing a mental map in his head. When the bus arrived, he sat in his usual seat. Mia got on and sat next to him.
Ethan was so lost in thought that he didn't notice her staring.
"Hey! Earth to Ethan! Are you there?"
"H-huh? Yeah, sorry. I zoned out."
Mia smiled at him.
"What were you thinking about?"
"Nothing, really—"
"Or was it me?"
Ethan turned toward her. Mia was smiling warmly. Ethan smiled back, hearing his heartbeat louder than ever before.
"Yeah…"
They spent the ride just smiling at each other. When they arrived at Anacostia High School, students began exiting the bus.
Ethan and Mia got off last. Mia took Ethan's hand and walked cheerfully toward the school. Even though winter was beginning, their hands felt warm.
Just before entering, Ethan noticed a man wearing a hat in the garden behind the school. He stared, his eyes widening. He stopped suddenly.
"Come on, Ethan, class is about to start," Mia said.
The man was his real father, Rami.
Ethan broke eye contact and turned back to Mia with a forced smile.
"Actually… I had an assignment I didn't do. I think it's better if I skip school today."
"Why?"
"The teacher said anyone who didn't do it would get a zero for oral grades…"
Mia looked at him, then let go of his hand, disappointed.
"Okay then… see you tomorrow."
"See you… have a good day."
As soon as Mia entered the school, Ethan looked back at the bushes. Rami was gone. Ethan followed and saw him heading toward the Anacostia River behind the school.
Rami was sitting on a bench, staring at the river. Ethan approached quietly and touched his shoulder.
Without turning, Rami spoke calmly.
"Take your hand off me and sit down. The feds are after me."
Ethan obeyed and sat beside him, acting natural. Rami put an earbud in his left ear and opened his phone.
"When you leave, walk back. You'll see a black BMW E46 parked nearby. Get in. I'll follow."
"But dad—"
"Don't talk. Trust me. Wait a bit after I leave."
Rami stood up and walked away as music played through his phone. Ten minutes later, Ethan stood up and walked back. Just as Rami said, a black BMW was parked there with a man waiting inside.
As Ethan approached, the driver unlocked the front door and smiled. Ethan chose to trust his father and got in.
The car stopped at the edge of Fort Dupont Park.
"Get out and follow this sidewalk," the driver said with a smile.
Ethan did so. Near the forest edge, he saw a man waving at him in front of an isolated house. As he approached the door, it opened.
"Wait in the living room."
The room was dim. Curtains closed, yellowed walls, two chairs facing each other. Ethan waited, tense and angry.
Footsteps approached. Rami entered, removed his hat, and smiled.
"It's quieter here, son."
He sat down.
"Why am I here, dad? Do you need something again?"
"Need you? Don't make me laugh, Sami. That was a one-time thing. That night, you were the only one I could trust."
"My name is Ethan. Then why did you call me?"
Rami leaned forward, serious.
"Where's the statue?"
"A-at home."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes. Was all of this really for that damn statue?!"
Rami stood up angrily, signaled the man in the hallway, and grabbed a newspaper. He threw it onto Ethan's lap.
"Read page two."
The headline read: 'Innocent police officer brutally murdered!'
"What is this?"
"You saw this on the news, didn't you?"
"Y-yeah…"
Ethan began sweating.
"The officer was torn in half with bare hands."
"Interesting… and what are you trying to imply—"
"Shut up! One of the few witnesses was that girl you were holding hands with. At the station, she said: 'I saw him get shot in the head… but he didn't die. He stood up, killed the shooter, and then killed a police officer who tried to protect me.'"
"Are you ordering me around?! Are you serious?!"
Ethan stood up and shoved his father.
"What the hell does this story mean?!"
Rami grabbed Ethan by the throat.
"You did it!"
"N-no…"
Rami released him and forced him back into the chair.
"You made contact with the statue, didn't you? Damn it…"
He sat down, holding his head.
"I asked you for one thing. Hide it. And you couldn't even stay away from it."
"I-I'm sorry—"
"Enough! If you weren't my son, I'd kill you right here."
"What are you saying?"
"This power destroys people. It's too much. Why did you let it enter your body?!"
Ethan's eyes began turning red. Rami noticed and immediately reached for his gun, aiming it.
Then the Gluttony King spoke.
"Do not fear… I am only borrowing this body for a while."
"Who the hell are you?! What's your name?!"
"They call me the Gluttony King."
"What deal did you make with my son?!"
"When he becomes strong enough… he will help me take my revenge."
"Revenge against who?"
"That gun… do you really think you'll shoot? I despise humans like you."
Ethan's eyes returned to normal. His head throbbed. He realized his father was pointing a gun at him.
"What are you doing?! Are you going to shoot me?!"
Rami lowered the gun, calmer now.
"No… I could never do that. That power is hard to control, Ethan."
"Why, dad? Why? Tell me the truth already!"
"I'm trying to help you!"
"Leave this life behind! Leave me alone! I'll use this power to give people a better life! I'll save this country… no, this world!"
"You can't! That power will only bring chaos! Listen to me and put the curse back where it belongs!"
"Go to hell! You weren't a father all these years, and now you care?!"
Ethan turned to leave, but the man in the hallway grabbed him. In a burst of rage, Ethan used a fraction of the curse's power and threw the man against the wall before escaping the house.
Rami shouted after him one last time.
"If you ever need help… come to that bench."
Ethan ignored him, walked past the BMW, and headed home. On the way, he remembered the two missing sisters and changed his route toward Garfield Heights.
To find them, he would need to investigate first.